A. Philip Randolph
A. Philip Randolph
Matt Boylan
October 20, 2008
Wikispaces

A. Philip Randolph and his agreement with Roosevelt

Profile

Name: Marcus SmithBirthdate: July 19, 1911Date of Incident: July 1, 1941Interests: I like to and box. I am a middleweight at amateur boxing. General Information: I am very much for the civil rights movement and very patriotic. I will do anything for the war effort and for black rights.





Dear Diary,

Today A. Philip Randolph made an important agreement with President Roosevelt. Mr. Randolph just might be the

best black labor leader yet (“A.”). Currently, he is the founder and the leader of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car

Porters. He also believes that black progress lies in the working class of blacks (McElrath). To fight against

discrimination in both the industry and the military, he organized a march on Washington, D.C. (Danzer 566).

This idea for the march included Randolph’s two greatest passions, civil rights and employment discrimination

practices by the federal government (McElrath). My family and I travelled there from Chicago to participate in

this march. Our motto or slogan, if you will, said “We Loyal Colored Americans Demand the Right to Work and

Fight for Our Country” (Danzer 566). The President asked Randolph to back down, but Randolph said it was not

possible, and that he planned for over 100,000 African-Americans to be there to march. Roosevelt knew that

even half of that number of people would be way too much for the city to feed, house, and transport (Danzer

566). The agreement between the two was that FDR would issue and executive order for the end of all racial

discrimination of employment in the federal civil service. In return, Randolph called off the march (“A.”). The only

part I am angry about is that my family and I drove out here for nothing.

Sincerely,
Marcus Smith



Works Cited

"A. Philip Randolph a giant in U.S. labor movement." BNET. 2008. ProQuest. 20 Oct 2008 <http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3861/is_200207/ai_n9101895/pg_1>.

Danzer, Gerald A. et. Al. The Americans. Evanston: McDougal Little, Inc., 2003.

McElrath, Jessica. "Asa Philip Randolph." About.com. Google. 20 Oct 2008 <http://afroamhistory.about.com/cs/aphiliprandolph/p/aphiliprandolph.htm>.